How-to-Calories (Bulk,Cut,Maintain) / Zig-Zag Diet

[CUERVO073]

Hey musclesntx, you have a pm!!!! thanks man

[Twilight_Trainer]

Ok, since this is definitely important for EVERYONE of every fitness level, I guess I can break down and show everyone how to do it (I'm not sure why I haven't yet, I guess I just didn't think about it!) My bad on that.
I believe this is pretty basic, so let me know if you have any questions or need anything clarified! I know that many people think these numbers are high, because it's more than they're used to eating, but this is how you get your metabolism burning optimally. Starvation simply doesn't work!!!


First, you must calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR. Your BMR is lowest when sleeping; however, most methods measure your BMR when awake, but under controlled conditions of resting and room temperature. Your BMR is therefore an estimate of the number of calories you'd burn over 24 hours while lying down, but not sleeping. Your actual metabolic rate is estimated by adding the caloric cost of all the activities you engage in throughout the day to your BMR.

A rough estimate of BMR is as follows:
Men's BMR in calories = 1 X Body weight in kilograms X 24 hours
Women's BMR in calories = 0.9 X Body weight in kilograms X 24

(to calculate your body fat in kilograms, divide your weight in pounds by 2.2)

Now, once you have this number, decide which body fat range you're in, and multiply it by the Lean Factor multiplier in parenthesis.

Lean Factor Chart
-Men Under 10%, Women under 14% 105% Multiplier - (1.05)
-Men 10% to <14% – Women 14% to <18% 100% Multiplier - (1.0)
-Men 14% to <20% – Women 18% to <28% 95% Multiplier - (.95)
-Men 20% to 28% – Women 28% to 38% 90% Multiplier - (.90)
-Men over 28% – Women over 38% 85%(0.85) 85% Multiplier - (.85)


Finally, take that number (the BMR x your Lean Factor) and multiply it by your daily activity level (in percent). I can make this VERY specific, but below is a good chart for estimating this number. Feel free to make your own estimates if you feel that you're somewhere between any of these categories.

Daily Activity Level Breakdown
130% is very light activity: sitting, studying, talking, little walking.

155% is light activity; typing, teaching, lab/shop work, some walking throughout the day.

165% is moderate activity: walking, jogging, gardening, active job, training 1 to 2 hours per day.

200% is heavy activity level: manual labor such as digging, tree felling, construction work, and sports activities between 2 and 3 hours.

230% is very heavy activity: a combination of moderate and heavy activity 8 or more hours per day, plus sports activities 2 to 4 hours per day. [/b]

These numbers allow you to adjust your requirements based on your activities for any given day (lifting and cardio, not lifting, no cardio, work, school, etc.)

Here's an example of my daily caloric requirements on a lifting day.

My current weight 213lbs = 96.9kg

BMR= 96.9kg x 24hours = 2325 calories

My body fat is less than 10%, so my multiplier is 1.05
Adjusted bmr = 2325 x 1.05 = 2441

On a normal lifting day, I estimate my energy expenditure to be in the 165% range (Depending on the activity, I might go as high as 175%, but for this example, 165% will do.)

2441 bmr calories x 1.65 (165% activity level) = 4027 calories

On an off day, my calorie expenditure is probably closer to 155%, so on that day, my caloric expenditure would be:

2441 x 1.55 (155%) = 3783

So, these are the numbers that I would zig-zag from.
Hope this helps each of you!!!
Boyd (This article was taken from satxfitness.com, Boyd Myers)


http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa64.htm

The above link is to a calculator using the same information, just type in your required info and it does the work for you!

[lbs for lbs]

i will definitely have to give the zig-zag a try when i start cutting.

but V, i have a questions. how do you know when u hit a plateu and need to increase my caloric intake for 2 days? should i just stick the the 5/2 day split? or maybe even 6/2 days?

[lbs for lbs]

does this formula really work? is it accurate and a good method to follow?

[Mad120987]

ive been doin the zig zag diet myself for a lil over a month and lost 2lbs a week of fat and gained around 3-5 of lbm per week

ive been doing a 3/1 or 4/1 and about 55-30-15 w/ HIIT 5-6x per week

[Zeke]

I just wanted to say that this diet is amazing. Ive only been at it a week as part of a cutting cycle.

I lost 70 lbs last year so i know howto lose weight, except then i did it by just restricting calories all the time. If i had known about this way it would have made it much easier.

Basically I just restrict calories all week, then on friday and saturday i increase portions a little. I goto a very demanding boarding school so i can't really count calories or prepare my own meals, but this way seems to work. Thursday after track practice and lifting i weighed 228 in athletic shorts a t-shirt, this morning after eating breakfast 4 hours ago, and eating normally ( higher portions) for the last two days, and wearing jeans i weighed 226.

I have been bulking since after football season, and with that and spring break i put on a little fat. I am still lifting 4 times a week w/ track practices 5 times a week so this is perfect for ridding the fat without my muscles becoming catabolic. I can't wait for next week!! Thanks

[afroking]

Defo gonna give this a try (going on hols in three months, and wouldnt mind wowing the ladies with the bod! )

musclentx - can I drop youa pm with my details pls?
What do you need?

Thanks,

Adam.

[sts57c5]

Originally Posted by Toasty

You've got mail

thanks i sent you my info

[Siobhan]

What days are you supposed to eat more? I work out at the gym and lift train 5 days a week, two days off. But every day I do two cardio sessions of 35 mintues. Should the two days I eat more be on my off days? Or dose it really matter?

[musclesntx]

I should've posted this a long time ago, but I just keep forgetting. My posts on this have been "examples". The calculating your calories is a rough estimate way of doing it, and it is not exclusive to this diet.

Here's the quicky on ZZD - you cycle your calories. There are no set days you have to do it. It's simply about creating a surplus or a deficit for an amount of time and then switching it for another amount of time. 5 days on and 2 days off is an example. You can do 2 weeks at a caloric surplus and 2 weeks at a caloric deficit, 5 days surplus, 2 days at maintenance, 6 days at a deficit and 4 days surplus and 2 days maint, etc, etc, etc.

It really doesn't matter and it confuses the hell out of a lot of people. I suppose I should've clarified that a long time ago, but sometimes it's hard to put all of your thoughts in writing.

I will say that regardless of your goal, you should be shifting gears at some point to keep your metabolism working the way you want it to.

Ok, I hope that makes it a little more clear.

[HuevoHead]

Jesus H. Christ!!! That means I go from 2408.2<3983!! 3983cal is a LOT of "Clean" and I say clean cause I'm sure your not supposed to get your xtra calories from big macs and stuff like that.

I'm gonna try it anyway. 5\/ & 2/\ sounds pretty resonable for my workout. I'm in the military so we run on Mon, Wed & Fri. Tue & Thur we are in the gym for wieghts. Sat is my third day for wieghts so I'll use Sat & Sun for calorie upage.

I'm 233lbs/5'11"
14% bodyfat according to the fitnesshub body composition table.


I'm going to try to at least get to 5% by june, hopefully.

[Trav386@yahoo.com]

So to I just lower my caloric intake so its lower than my caloric expenditure? Do I need to watch my carbs and protein intake or simply my Caloric intake?

[atticus589]

durrrr.... how do you multiply percents again?

[Mad120987]

you get total calories by protein carbs and fat. Then you take calories from each and devide by total calories. So if you have a 3000 calorie diet and you have 1500 calories from carbs, you do 1500 /3000 and it gives you 0.5 or 50%

[amberyan]

I am 5'1", 117 lbs.
Female
work 40+hrs. a week/stressful
need some help with the zig zag diet
if you need more info, hit me up

[Steve4king]

..according to the calculations on the web page linked..
I expend 2700 calories a day.. I've never eaten even close to that much on a daily basis. Does this number indicate the maximum calories my body CAN burn in a day with my current activity level/weight?

[Danny89]

Hi all
I'm new here I'm interested in the zig-zag approach I've used in the past
I suggested it to a friend of mine who want to gain muscle and lose fat but that knows that conventional wise bulking phases increase your body fat mass too much and conventional wise cutting phases waste your muscles too much even if the protein intake is high and that fat loss is slow and quickly reaches a plateau

He also wants to look good for a job as an instructor he is doing for the summer and doesn't want to suffer the consequences of heavy and long bulking and cutting. In other words he want to keep gaining muscle during the summer without gaining much fat and keep losing extra fat especially visceral fat without losing much muscle. He knows that conventional bulking'n'cutting just lead to plateaus

So I suggested him to zig-zag his diet. I offered him so as to say a way to both lose fat and gain musce had the same time. It's claimed that you can't really lose fat and gain muscle at the same time because they're opposite goals that need opposite means but I believe that with a zig-zag diet at the end of a month you have both put xx pounds of muscle mass and have both lost xxxx pound of body fat. Am I right?

Am I though confused as to what kind of approach he should follow
He is 5.11 and 150 pounds. He's kind of large bones and it seems rather defined to me so I would guess his body fat to be between 14 and 16%

His goal would be to have at least 9-10% body fat and increase muscle mass
He want to be lean and well defined but not too bulky

Hatfield suggests two approach:

5 days of eating 2 calories more per lb of bodyweight
2 days of eating 2 calories less per lb of bodyweight

or the other way around:

5 days of eating 2 calories less per lb of bodyweight
2 days of eating 2 calories more per lb of bodyweight

He's going to be very active in swimming too so he can't allow his body to run out of energy. I can't choose whether he should focus on losing fat while gaining muscles too or gaining muscles while losing fat too

What do you suggest?
Is it true that this is the best approach my friend could follow and way butter than orthodox bulking for 2 months and cutting for 2 months?

Daniel

[Danny89]

Also I don't understand well whether 2 calories per lb of bodyweight should be added or substructed by daily caloric intake, BMR caloric maintenance or BMR + activity factors and calories spent working out already calculated

Daniel

[stas]

Originally Posted by musclesntx

Got it. Let me take a look at it, and I'll respond to you soon.

hi

plse advice me for zig zag method.
current weight: 1,87
b.f between 11-12%
male 38 years old
activity 3 days a week aerobic exersize 30-40 mins + weight traning 1 hour
and rest 3 days 1 hour weight training.

plse advice

thanks in advance

[k1rules]

Can anyone help me out??? Im new to working out, but i would like to get ripped and stay pretty slim, i have NO explode, it works pretty good. When i bought it, the guy hooked me up with a bottle of Nitrix for free, but im not sure if thats going to make gain weight. Can i use it and still burn fat and stay slim and light........i weight 175lbs and have some baggage i want to get rid of, but i want my weight to go down..........BSN Nitrix, can i still loose weight and stay cut..?